Yet again on duty, Aoto Asazu proves mainstay of Japanese success

22 Sep 2016

A familiar face on the ITTF World Junior Circuit, making no less than his tenth appearance of the year, more than any other player; Aoto Asazu was the man of the moment on the second day of play, Thursday 22nd September, at the 2016 Slovenia Junior and Cadet Open in Otocec.

The 16 year old guided Japan to success in the Junior Boys’ Team event; most impressively remaining throughout the two days of action.

Asazu Aoto guided his team to the top prize (Danilo Kesic)

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Furthermore, he proved the pivotal player in the final against the outfit which comprised the Chinese Taipei duo of Li Hsin-Yang and Feng Yi-Hsin, who partnered Victor Liu of the United States.

Focused, in the second match of the fixture he accounted for Li Hsin-Yang (12-14, 11-7, 11-5, 13-11) before, in the vital deciding contest, overcoming Feng Yi-Hsin (6-11, 21-19, 11-2, 12-10) to seal the victory.

The one remaining success for Japan was secured by Takeru Kashiwa; in the third match of the engagement he defeated Vitor Liu (11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8). The wins for the eventual silver medallists were both gained at the expense of Yu Kayama; he was beaten by Feng Yi-Hsin in the opening match of the fixture by the very narrowest of margins (4-11, 11-13, 11-6, 11-6, 12-10), before later in the engagement, experiencing defeat when confronting Li Hsin-Yang (11-4, 8-11, 20-18, 11-7).

Later stages

Earlier, at the quarter-final stage, the Japanese trio had recorded a three-nil win in opposition to the multi-national outfit comprising Montenegro’s Filip Radovic, Serbia’s Dimitrije Levajac and Croatia’s Jakov Jakelic; the one success for the latter outfit being recorded by Jakov Jakelic at the expense of Takeru Kashiwa (6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 4-11, 11-6).

A place in the penultimate round reserved, a three-nil success was posted against the team comprising Germany’s Cedric Meissner, who joined forces with Hungary’s Istvan Molnar and Patrik Juhasz.

Adjacent half of draw

Meanwhile, in the opposite half of the draw, the combination of Feng Yi-Hsin, Li Hsin-Yang and Vitor Liu had recorded a three-one success against the Austrian outfit of Michael Trink, Maciej Kolodziejzyk and Martin Rudel, prior to booking their plae in the final courtesy of a three-nil success against the German trio of Jannik Xu, Meng Fanbo and Alexander Gerhold.

The one winner for Austria in the quarter-final duel was Maciej Kolodziejzyk; in the second match of the engagement, he accounted for Feng Yi-Hsin (12-10, 4-11, 11-8, 11-9).

Individual events

Proceedings in the Junior Boys’ Team concluded; attention now turns to the individual competitions. Play in the Junior Boys’ Singles event begins on Friday 23rd September.